Fans going to games deserve to see their team put out an effort toward winning.

But general managers in a rebuilding mode typically find it necessary to trade their best players for multiple prospects with unknown ceilings.

That’s the dilemma that the likes of Jed Hoyer find themselves in at this time of the baseball season.

Any pipe dream the Padres had of making the playoffs died with five straight losses going into the All-Star break. If five straight losses aren’t enough of a reality check, two runs scored in 44 innings certainly is.

But it was over before that. Truth is, the 2011 Padres have not been able to sustain a winning combination.

The pitching has been solid most of the time, but the offense blows cold much more often than the short spells of false hope. As for the defense, major disappointment.

The Padres of 2011 have no playoff hopes. The numbers speak volumes.

Just to get back to .500, the Padres would have to go 41-29 over the final 70 games. To get to 85 wins, 45-25. To get back to last season’s 90 wins, which was not good enough to get into the playoffs, the Padres would have to go 50-20.

You get the point.

Still, when a Padres fan goes to a game or flips on the television — and the Sports Business Journal reports the Padres’ local TV ratings are off 26 percent from a year ago, the fifth-largest decline in the major leagues — they’d like to see a win.

So, what do the Padres do now?

Stay the course? Or build for the future?

Play every game to win? Or use the last 70 games of 2011 as an audition for 2012 and beyond?

And what will you get for Bell and Ludwick, who are free agents at the end of the year? Teams renting players for two months are usually reluctant to give up a big haul of prospects. Adams might be the player with the highest trade value.

Certainly, Hoyer is getting calls. Teams are interested in parts of the Padres. But nothing is imminent. The Padres will open the second half tonight against the Giants at Petco Park without major changes.

But the clock is ticking toward the July 31 deadline. Change is in the air. Hoyer says he’s not under pressure to trade anyone. On Wednesday, he said retaining Bell remains an option, although Bell doesn’t believe he’ll stay.

What will the Padres look like in a month?

Certainly, Ludwick is as good as gone — which creates a huge hole in the middle of the lineup. Aside from Ludwick, only one Padre has more than 21 RBI — Chase Headley with 31.

So who hits cleanup? Best bet, Kyle Blanks. He opened the 2010 season hitting fourth behind Adrian Gonzalez and although he failed, the Padres have to get an idea about what they have in the 24-year-old first-baseman-turned-outfielder.

Which is why you are going to also see more of Will Venable, Everth Cabrera and probably a couple of new faces down the stretch.

Before the Padres can determine the direction of their future, they must make some decisions on players who have been living off promise since the strong finish to the 2009 season. The Padres closed 2009 with a 37-25 run — raising hopes for the young players responsible for the final 62 games.

Aside from Headley, the rest of the young nucleus has not advanced. In fact, most have slipped from where they were two years ago. And with some approaching arbitration, hard decisions are in the offing.

And many talent evaluators aren’t that high on the Padres prospects at the upper levels of the minor leagues — the players a rebuilding team would be counting on for immediate help.

No matter what the Padres do, it could be a long second half.

Dick Williams honored

The Padres will wear the club’s 1983 uniform tonight when they open the second half of the season at Petco Park against the San Francisco Giants.

The uniforms will be part of a tribute the Padres will be paying to former manager Dick Williams. The Hall of Fame manager died last week at age 82. Also in honor of Williams, the team will wear a commemorative patch of his initials. Tonight’s pregame ceremony will include a moment of silence and a special video tribute to Williams.

Williams was the Padres’ manager from 1982-85 and led the Padres to their first National League pennant in 1984. Williams’ Padres teams had a 337-311 record for a .520 winning percentage over four years, finishing at .500 or better each season.